Carl Matthes: Extremists can always step up to the next weapon of mass killing. Anti-violence campaigns, respect for human life, education and zero tolerance for the proliferation of assault weapons are needed now.
With Guns, All Politics Is Local
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Victoria Defrancesco Soto: Most of the real action, when it comes to guns and firearm violence, takes place in our state capitals and in some instances our city councils.
Why Some Americans Want Big Guns
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Steve Hochstadt: Imaginary patriotism of right-wing extremists has been translated into a surge in demand for assault weapons, not for hunting or for protection against criminals, but to make war against our government.
The Assault Weapons Ban: A Red Herring
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Tina Dupuy: But this is the solution the NRA offers: Too many shootings requires more people armed and able to shoot. The problem AND the cure are basically the same: lots of guns.
Gun Silence
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Tom Hall: The earnest M.C. at Saturday’s benefit concert suggested that we all pause for a minute of silence in honor of the recent tragedy in Connecticut. Seated in the audience, I wanted to scream out “NO. No more silence.”
I Gave Up My Firearm Today
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As I drove away, and I am not making this up, a spray of miniature raindrops began to fall and a double rainbow – a rare sight in Southern California – parted the sky to the north. I felt peace.
Vulgar Borkians: The Tea Party and the Judge
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Lawrence Rosenthal: The Tea Party’s feeling that something theirs was being taken away and given to others was precisely the feeling that Robert Bork was translating into a judicial philosophy.
All I Want for Christmas — Is a Gun
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Steve Hochstadt: Seeing men all around me carrying guns, or knowing that men at McDonalds, at the library, or at my school are carrying concealed weapons doesn’t make me feel safer.
Giving the Gift of Self-Deception
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Tom Gasparoli: The NRA and its diehard proponents believe schoolchildren are sitting ducks for mass murderers – unless there is one person present leaning against a wall eight hours a day with a pistol. Okay then, what about every youth sporting event?
Robert Bork: A Pass on Watergate, Not ‘Original Intention’
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Stanley Kutler: Bork inevitably opposed judicial decisions favoring contemporary values and desires, readily attacking judges who found ample constitutional support for ruling on behalf of second-class citizens, whether they wanted to eat at any lunch counter or get an abortion.
The NRA vs. The NRA
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John MacMurray: But whatever the NRA wishes to be; however it regards itself and its place in the cosmos; some changes will have to be made in the way it does business.
Young White Men in Crisis
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Rev. Irene Monroe: If the men were males of color, poor white males or Muslims these recurring mass shootings would be stereotypically explained as inherent to their make-up, affirming and fueling continued fear of them.
Right to Live v Right to Own a Gun
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Robert Letcher – The right to keep and bear arms versus the right of five and six-year olds to live was probably not in the minds of the Framers of the Constitution
Guns Don’t Kill People, Trigger Fingers Do
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Dotty LeMieux: As I watched one of my favorite all time classic feel good All American holiday movies, A Christmas Story, last night, I couldn’t help but cringe that the plot of that whole show revolved around one little boy’s desire for a bb gun.
America’s Gun Culture This Year
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Walter Brasch: There were 12 mass murders so far this year. There will be 33 more deaths from gunshot wounds today. There will be 33 more tomorrow. And the day after that and the day after that.
Gun-Control Myths
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Karen Finney: It’s time to reframe the conversation about guns to focus on how we address the realities of human behavior to more effectively prevent gun violence and protect our safety.
Does California’s Gang Database Unfairly Label Young Black and Brown Men?
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Dan Bluemel: Transparency and accountability are lacking in California’s gang member database, according to a recent report written by the Youth Justice Coalition.
Trust Me: You Believe in Gun Control
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Tina Dupuy: So unless you think all Americans should get Daisy Cutters this Christmas—you believe in regulations as to who gets a weapon, what kind and where they can have it.
NRA’s Wayne LaPierre: Public Enemy #1
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Peter Dreier: The blood of the 26 victims of the Connecticut shooting, including 20 young children, is on LaPierre’s hands. He didn’t pull the trigger, but he’s the NRA’s hit man when it comes to intimidating elected officials to oppose any kind of gun control and the nation’s most vocal advocate of gun owner rights.
Corporations Are Not People
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Steve Hochstadt: The problem with treating corporations as people for the purpose of political speech is that it provides another opportunity for rich and powerful corporate executives to magnify their speech with money which belongs to others.
Penal Trends: Strange Weather or Climate Change?
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Jonathan Simon: Are recent changes in prison-growth patterns, judicial decisions, and electoral results variations within the norm, or evidence of a more profound change that could mark the end of our 40-year experiment with mass incarceration?
JPL Employees Call for Congressional Investigation into NASA Privacy Breach
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Robert Nelson: The employees have asked Congress to conduct an investigation into NASA’s cavalier disregard for protecting the personal information of NASA’s present and past employees and contractors.
Secede Now, Avoid the Rush!
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Scott Prosterman: In response to President Obama’s re-election, some red staters are trying to get Texas , Florida and others to secede. I say, let California be the first – why wait?
Fixing America’s Broken Voting System
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Sylvia Moore: [dc]N[/dc]ow that the dust has settled and President Obama has been re-elected, America needs to make election reform and the universal expansion of voting rights a high priority.
Joe Lieberman’s Parting Shot
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Charley James: In a little-noticed piece of legislation he is trying to move through his Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs a bill that would effectively strip independent regulatory agencies of their power to effectively regulate just about anything.
California Leads the Nation in Wrongful Convictions: I Would Know
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Franky Carrillo: I was locked up more than 20 years ago for a murder I did not commit, and last year I was finally able to prove my innocence and was released.
When Businesses Go Unregulated
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Tom Hall: New England Compounding Center took advantage of deregulation to eliminate costs for safety measures. And “customers” died, killed by the contaminated drugs produced in the newly deregulated factories.
Coalition Pushes LA’s DA Candidates On Mass Incarceration Issues
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Peter Laarman: With Public Safety Realignment now underway, the DA’s role becomes even more pivotal. What our chief prosecutor believes and does has a huge impact on incarceration levels.
Sheila Kuehl on Prop 36: Three Strikes
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rop 36 reduces the prison sentences for those who committed a non-violent, non-serious felony as their third strike. The new sentence would be twice the usual sentence for the crime they committed as a third strike.
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg’s Son Robert
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We don’t often hear about the minor children of people who have been sentenced to die. The media typically covers the story up to and including the execution. Rarely are we given any insight into what happens in the lives of children in the aftermath of their parents execution.
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